Truth about water compact lies within
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Editor,
There continue to be lies and falsehoods written about the Flathead Reservation compact and the irrigation project water use agreement. Absolutely nowhere in either document does the CSKT claim all water on and off the reservation belongs to them. In fact, both documents clearly state that all non-irrigation project surface water rights will be adjudicated in Montana Water Court. Does that sound like the CSKT are claiming all water and the right to adjudicate it? Yet some people persist in the lies, apparently to continue to promote fear and hysteria. Read the compact and water use agreement on the DNRC, CSKT or FJBC websites.
Fear says this: We are losing our water rights. We are losing our property rights. The Tribes will control us.
Reality says this: Nobody is losing his or her water right or right to use water. The compact does not do anything at all to affect property rights. The compact does not allow the CSKT to control or meter your well. The compact creates a true partnership in administration between the State of Montana and the CSKT.
Reality also says this: Failure to approve this compact means two things. First it means litigation. That litigation will have a chilling effect on all development in Western Montana. When the CKST file their claims with the Water Court, DNRC is likely to be proscribed from issuing any further permits for either surface or groundwater development in Western Montana, until the CSKT water rights are quantified. This could take decades. Second, failure of this compact will consign the Flathead Indian Irrigation Project, the largest irrigation project in Montana, to a slide into oblivion. Failure means that pumping costs on the Flathead River Pumping Plant will increase 200-300 percent in 2015. O&M rates will see a significant increase in order to meet the repairs needed to keep water running, or water deliveries will cease.
Don’t be fooled by the lies. Read the documents. Support the compact and a positive, cooperative future for all of western Montana.
Alan Mikkelsen
St. Ignatius
